The present disclosure relates to a gas turbine engine and, more particularly, to a combustor section therefor.
Gas turbine engines, such as those that power modern commercial and military aircraft, generally include a compressor section to pressurize an airflow, a combustor section to burn a hydrocarbon fuel in the presence of the pressurized air, and a turbine section to extract energy from the resultant combustion gases.
The combustor section typically includes an outer shell lined with heat shields to form a combustion chamber. The combustion chamber is surrounded by a diffuser case formed of an inner case and an outer case, where the inner case defines a pre-diffuser and the outer case serves as structural containment. Together the cases form the flowpath and necessary volume to mitigate unrecoverable compressor surge. Although effective, the diffuser case may be relatively heavy in weight.